Block codes, or error correcting codes are frequently used to provide reliable transmission of digital messages over noisy channels. In a typical block code, an information message or sequence is split up into blocks, and an encoder at the transmitting device then mathematically adds redundancy to the information message. Exploitation of this redundancy in the encoded information message is the key to reliability of the message, enabling correction for any bit errors that may occur due to noise. That is, a decoder at the receiving device can take advantage of the redundancy to reliably recover the information message even though bit errors may occur, in part, due to the addition of noise to the channel.
Many examples of such error correcting block codes are known to those of ordinary skill in the art, including Hamming codes, Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH) codes, turbo codes, and low-density parity check (LDPC) codes, among others. Many existing wireless communication networks utilize such block codes, such as 3GPP LTE networks, which utilize turbo codes; and IEEE 802.11n Wi-Fi networks, which utilize LDPC codes.
For future networks, such as fifth generation (5G) New Radio networks, LDPC codes may continue to be implemented to support a wide range of information block lengths and a wide range of code rates. In order to achieve a high throughput with efficient hardware utilization, additional enhancements of LDPC codes are desired.